Before we set out on this trip we had a wish list of the countries we wanted to visit, but no fixed itinerary or pre-arranged dates, except for a flight from Nairobi to Cairo. Up until a month ago we didn't even have flights back to New Zealand! I'm really drawn to this type of travel because it allows for greater flexibility and gives you the opportunity to change your route at the last minute. It turns out this was the right move considering we ended up seeing East Africa in reverse order, delayed our flight to Egypt and recently decided to skip all of the Middle East (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon & Turkye).
Besides our teeny budget the major cause for these changes is lack of time. You'd think that four months in one region would be plenty, right? Well, to my surprise we actually ended up short on days in both Rwanda & Uganda, with many places left for "next time". This has taught me an important lesson of long term travel: Less is more. Don't think you can do it all, because inevitably you'll run out of steam (not to mention money!). Speed travel is fun for those who want to tick things off their list, but I find rushing through a country from major sight to sight completely unfulfilling.
In fact, what I've learnt most about my personal travel style is that I prefer to stay in one place for a while, get an insight into local life and do 'normal' things rather than visit another temple or national park. Don't get me wrong, sightseeing activities are usually fantastic, but they're not always representative of a place (just like Londoners don't go see Big Ben or Sydneysiders climb the Harbour Bridge on a regular basis!). This preference to stay put probably makes me a bad traveller because moving on & on is of course the basis of backpacking. Ah well, so be it then - I'll settle for being great at moving to new places instead ;-).
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